LETTERS TEA Party: Obama confronts test of fiscal responsibility

Sunday

Nov 18, 2012 at 4:00 AM

I am writing to respond to yet another misleading, inaccurate and cynical letter from Charles Chlysta III concerning the recent election and fiscal responsibility. His assertion that the current $16 trillion dollar debt "mostly began with Ronald Reagan" and is the result of cutting taxes and increased military spending ignores the fact that the president "My America" just reelected has increased the debt by $5 trillion, or 50 percent, in just four year with no end in sight. That is not Ronald Reagan's fault or George Bush's fault, it is Barack Obama's fault. Now let's see if the president is truly a fiscally responsible choice.

Right now, Mr. Chlysta, the president has another opportunity to do what you say, inaccurately, he was prevented from doing by Republicans.

The Bush tax cuts are set to automatically expire at the end of this year. The Republicans can do nothing to stop it by themselves. So, let's see if President Obama knows what your America knows and he stands firm for fiscal responsibility and gets rid of those tax cuts. Let's also see if he allows sequestration to take place, which will cut military spending by $500 billion, which you claim is the reason for our nation's problems. So, we will all get to see in the next 45 days if you, in fact, did vote for "fiscal responsibility" as you think you did.

Your statement that coal is being "pushed out of the market by cleaner cheaper natural gas" is flat wrong. According to the Institute for Energy Research, the cost of coal per kilowatt-hour is $3.23 and the cost of natural gas per kilowatt-hour generated is $4.51. Coal is still the cheapest fuel and will be for decades to come and the fact is that, according to the PUCO, 82 percent of Ohio's electricity still comes from coal.

However, President Obama, with the full support of Senator Brown, is causing the closing of coal mines and the shutdown of coal-fired generating plants in Ohio ,which is costing jobs and raising electric rates dramatically for both residential and commercial customers. That is not fiscally responsible or necessary.

Senator Brown is attacking the very fuel you suggest we should switch to, which is natural gas, where he has worked to limit drilling in Ohio and was quoted in the Cleveland Plain Dealer with the insane statement suggesting brine from fracked wells is as dangerous as nuclear waste.

So, don't lecture the TEA Party about truth Mr. Chlysta. Instead join us for some "honest and real" discussion about fiscal responsibility and facts. We are about to see very clearly and very soon what "your America" voted for and who was telling the truth and who was lying.